Austin Meyer of X-Plane fame released a pocket version of his flight simulator (first favourite thing) for the iPhone (second favourite thing).

I duly downloaded the app and wrote a review for my flight simulator site, thinking that readers would be interested, which indeed they were. However, what I didn't envisage was not the the number of flight simulator users that would be interested, but the number of iPhone users.

The impact was impressive. My usual daily uniques come in at around 1,800 to 2,000. Within 24 hours of the post, I had received over 4,500 uniques and it's remained at over 4,000 since. I know this will drop back at some point, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. I've received a tremendous number of inbound links to the review and I'm number one on Google for a search of "x-plane iphone review", with no effort from myself other than writing the review.

What really struck me was that all this increase in traffic was from an audience I'd not really considered before. Sure, it was also a matter of timing. I couldn't write a review of a flight simulator for the iPhone before there WAS a flight simulator for the iPhone, but it has made me think that I can perhaps make my blog reach people outside the tight niche it currently occupies.